Google, Facebook, Twitter are not sued in Kazakhstan

November 24 2012, 13:12

Nurdaulet Suindykov. Credit:profinance.kz The official representative of RoK Public Prosecutor’s Office in Almaty, Nurdaulet SUINDYKOV, in his interview to IA Novosti-Kazakhstan refuted the information that Internet resources Google, Facebook, Twitter are among the defendants in the lawsuit initiated by the prosecutor’s office of Almaty, demanding to close a number of opposition mass media in Kazakhstan.

“This information is not correct. The above mentioned blog-platforms and social networks are not defendants in the lawsuit initiated by the Almaty prosecutor’s office against the newspapers “Respublika” and “Vzglyad”. The defendants are the “Respublika” and “Vzglyad” newspapers themselves. Google, Twitter, Facebook were mentioned in the case because their certain specific blog pages are simply the duplicate resources of Respublika and Vzglyad newspapers,”- said Suindykov to the news agency over the telephone.

He noted that in case the court issues a decision to ban the newspapers Respublika and Vzglyad, the administrations of those Internet resources will be approached to delete or block the pages of those editions. The issue is not in fully blocking those Internet resources, he added.

To recall, defendants in this case are several Kazakh opposition media outlets and their websites, including “Respublika,” “Voice of Respubl;ika”,“Vzglyad”, TV channel “K+” and their duplicating Internet resources, as well as Internet video-portal “Stan TV” that have been recognized by their office as “directed at inflaming social hatred.”

The lawsuit filed by Kazakh prosecutors is related to the recently completed trial of one of the country’s opposition leaders, Vladimir Kozlov, during which several media outlets, including “Respublika,” “Voice of Respubl;ika”,“Vzglyad”, have been declared as extremist.